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Shaun Brown: SBS3 yes, Big Brother no.

SBS Managing Director Shaun Brown says the broadcaster is working on plans for SBS 3 but rejects populist ideas such as Big Brother.

SBS Managing Director Shaun Brown says the broadcaster is working on plans for SBS 3, but declined to reveal more details.

“I’m not going to give anything away. We’re in the middle of a Review with out board,” he told media and marketing website Mumbrella.

Brown also couldn’t help but mention the loss of a populist show such as Top Gear.

“If we hadn’t have run it, it wouldn’t have been seen in Australia. Every other network turned it down.”

He rejected any notion of picking up Big Brother, but says he would have engaged in discussions early on.

Brown says the next ‘tentpole’ show for SBS will come from more “less obvious” titles that are overlooked by commercial networks who all hold better output deals and more money.

19 Responses

  1. I would love SBS3 to become a foreign news network and take them off the other SBS channels. I also used to love the foreign language learning shows, maybe they could do learning in the morning and news after 12pm.

  2. I’d like to agree with the ideas from Darthfyer (11:30am) & Peter (9:43pm). Yet, they’ll have to beef up SBS TWO before we see SBS THREE – like at least dropping the World News Australia simulcast at 6:30pm & filling with alternative programming.

    Ronnie (6:00pm), you’re not funny.

  3. Hopefully SBS will consider broadcasting a wider range of news bulletins in English as well as in foreign languages. They already show programmes from PBS (US) and DWTV (Germany), but some perspectives from other countries and regions would be good. In particular, it seems odd that SBS does not broadcast any news or current affairs programmes from NZ or the UK, the two largest sources of migrants to Australia.

  4. Shaun Brown is hilarious. He reminds me of that knight in the Monty Python film who has no arms, no legs, but still wants to take on all comers!

  5. 7 should give TV Burp to SBS. Then it could be one of those cult show type hidden gems that hardly anyone knows about, and it seems like a perfect format for SBS.

  6. They’ve said they have no money for SBS TWO, so I’m sure why they’re even thinking about a SBS THREE at the moment.

    Still, if they can work out funding it would be interesting to see what they come up with. It would be ace if they could find some space for those obscure, quirky gems that made me love SBS in the first place.

  7. @Matthew

    Agreed. I remember when SBS used to have many foreign educational programs. These included Learning Japanese, French amongst several other languages. Some foreign kids programming would be interesting, like cartoons, anime, drama, etc.

  8. The government needs to offer SBS more funding for more foreign movies and drama on the multichannels. Australia is a multicultural society and I’m proud of that. While I enjoy American content, we need more foreign content to both entertain and educate us by introducing us to a wider range of cultures.

  9. Sorry, adding to my comment below, making a new channel dedicated to the news would free up a good 7 hours or so on SBS TWO for other shows. Come 2013, all the news from SBS ONE can also be removed freeing up even more room!

  10. Last I read (about a month or so ago), SBS3 was being seriously considered as a re-launch of the World News Channel. They have about 7-8 hours of international news now, just introduce another 4-5 hours, then encore that 12 hour block and you have a 24-hour international news channel.

  11. They don’t seem to have enough content for 2 channels let alone 3. Will SBS 3 be more foreign news and weatherwatch? Maybe they will finally air the news from Turkmenistan and Uganda

  12. As long as SBS doing the following:

    SBS3 – Asian programming
    SBS4 – European programming

    I’d be a happy guy. Australia needs Japanese TV for my sake.

  13. @ Steele (9:50am) – Thats what makes the UK version of Big Brother so good … no product placement or dodgy advertising crap (eg any brand names are taped over on the show) … its back to basics “strangers sharing a house & doing tasks” unlike the crap that the Australian one evolved into.

    Pity they’ve canned it after this years season 🙁

  14. I’d like to see SBS’s version of an ‘Entertainment’ channel – Skins, Entourage, Queer as Folk, Wilfred, Newstopia, South Park, Mythbuster, you name it!!

    SBS has some killer shows, and no doubt they could pick up even more…

    Bored to Death would fit right in on SBS3…

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